"Well dost thou know, ungrateful Quiteria, that according to the holy law

we acknowledge, so long as live thou canst take no husband; nor art thou

ignorant either that, in my hopes that time and my own exertions would

improve my fortunes, I have never failed to observe the respect due to

thy honour; but thou, casting behind thee all thou owest to my true love,

wouldst surrender what is mine to another whose wealth serves to bring

him not only good fortune but supreme happiness; and now to complete it

(not that I think he deserves it, but inasmuch as heaven is pleased to

bestow it upon him), I will, with my own hands, do away with the obstacle

that may interfere with it, and remove myself from between you. Long live

Advertisement..

the rich Camacho! many a happy year may he live with the ungrateful

Quiteria! and let the poor Basilio die, Basilio whose poverty clipped the

wings of his happiness, and brought him to the grave!"

And so saying, he seized the staff he had driven into the ground, and

leaving one half of it fixed there, showed it to be a sheath that

concealed a tolerably long rapier; and, what may be called its hilt being

planted in the ground, he swiftly, coolly, and deliberately threw himself

upon it, and in an instant the bloody point and half the steel blade

appeared at his back, the unhappy man falling to the earth bathed in his

blood, and transfixed by his own weapon.

His friends at once ran to his aid, filled with grief at his misery and

sad fate, and Don Quixote, dismounting from Rocinante, hastened to

support him, and took him in his arms, and found he had not yet ceased to

breathe. They were about to draw out the rapier, but the priest who was

standing by objected to its being withdrawn before he had confessed him,

as the instant of its withdrawal would be that of this death. Basilio,

however, reviving slightly, said in a weak voice, as though in pain, "If

thou wouldst consent, cruel Quiteria, to give me thy hand as my bride in

this last fatal moment, I might still hope that my rashness would find

pardon, as by its means I attained the bliss of being thine."

Hearing this the priest bade him think of the welfare of his soul rather

than of the cravings of the body, and in all earnestness implore God's

pardon for his sins and for his rash resolve; to which Basilio replied

that he was determined not to confess unless Quiteria first gave him her

hand in marriage, for that happiness would compose his mind and give him

courage to make his confession.




Most Popular